


Anniversary

by fadeverb



Series: Kai and Mannie [9]
Category: In Nomine
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-16
Updated: 2013-08-16
Packaged: 2017-12-23 17:44:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/929307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fadeverb/pseuds/fadeverb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kai returns to a dead town, to celebrate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Anniversary

I've seldom had reason to pay much attention to anniversaries, the birthdays of my students aside. The world keeps moving, and stopping to consider what happened long ago means I'm not paying attention to what's happening now. But this one seemed important enough that I let my supervisor know I'd be gone for a few days, and rode off into the sunset (being on the East Coast makes that easier) to keep the appointment only I know about.

There are a few different days I could have chosen. I'm sure Mannie would have picked a different one, and if he's thinking about that at all, it means in a few weeks I ought to work out something celebratory. But I chose this one for being a sort of beginning point, one that matters to me. It's the place one search stopped, and a different search began.

I wasn't expecting to see any other signs of life in this abandoned town, but when I get off my motorcycle, there it is, a car that looks like it's been in a few accidents lately. There are two people I can think of who might be here in a car like that, though I wouldn't have expected either of them to show.

I trek through the field on foot, partly because that's how it was the first time, and partly because there are some things that are easier to feel when you get a better connection to the ground. The trees that encroach on this open land blaze with summer greens, the grass crackles around my feet, and insects dart away from where I step. There's nothing here but nature, and eventually the house.

It's still a beautiful house, even behind broken windows and weed-grown steps. But I don't think I would ever be able to stand trying to make it a a place to live in.

A figure comes striding towards me from inside the house. Tall, black-haired, a face that could belong to a sister of Jack's. Her hands linger near her coat, like she's about to pull out a sharp greeting.

"Kelly?"

She stops a few yards away from me, and all the foreboding in her face turns into a smile. "Kai?"

"I didn't expect to see you here," I say, and pull her into a hug, because even Malakim need hugs. "What brings you to this place again?"

"I could ask the same."

"I came here because this is the place where it started. Where it really started." She gives me a focal point for an orbit, just what I needed. "It's been one year. And I wanted to remember. What happened. How much some things have changed."

"I've heard about some changes you made," Kelly says. "Jack was disappointed, but." A quick shrug. "As it suits you. I don't see any dishonor in your choices."

"And now it's your turn to answer the question. I didn't think you even _liked_ Mannie."

"I didn't," says Kelly. "He was an arrogant bastard, and a coward on top of it."

"But?"

She takes my hand and leads me away from the house. "A week ago," she says, "I met him again, upstairs. In a coffee shop, and I suspect you have something to do with that caffeine habit he's supporting."

"Guilty as charged. And?" I wonder where she's leading me, when I'd rather go downstairs in that house, see the place where I can draw a dividing line between one moment and the next.

"I was there to tell a few a friends about my next dash to Earth, see if anyone else wanted to hitch along. He wasn't happy to see me, I wasn't happy to see him." She stops at the fence that borders the property, leaning back against the dry wood. "So I checked his honor, expecting to find the usual faults, but... He has faults, everyone has places where they've failed to measure up to their own standards, but there was a moment when he ran towards a dangerous situation. Knowing how much it could cost him. Because of someone else. And at that point, I couldn't hold old cowardice against him, right?" 

"I sure don't."

She laughs. "Of course, he's _still_ an arrogant bastard, but I expect that from the Word he serves. Always thinking they're a step ahead of the rest. I swiped one of his notebooks, to remind him that wasn't so, and passed it along to a few relievers. Don't know if he got it back yet. Before that, though, we got to talking, and I brought up this incident."

I do a hand-stand on a fencepost. "And so you came here?"

"He mentioned some more details about the monster we killed, and about the way it held to certain traditions. So I'm thinking, it was trapped in that ward, but what if it decides to come back? What if decides to bring _friends_? It's been a year precisely, and some things pay attention to dates."

I drop back down onto my feet, and when I hit the ground I can feel it, what wasn't there a few minutes ago. A sick, dead touch, seeping out towards us through the dirt at our feet. "Kelly--"

"Yes, I can feel it." She puts a hand on my shoulder when I'd run forward to engage this thing again. "Wait."

"I'm an _Ofanite_ , Kelly. I don't do waiting!"

"Wait. Trust me." She keeps a grip on my shoulder even as the insects fall silent, as the dreadful queasiness grows around us. I want to bound forward, but still, her hand on me.

The front door of the house creaks open, and there's something dark behind it, a squirming dripping thing. "Kelly!"

The Malakite pulls out a little black box, and she laughs, and she pushes a button.

Three stories of old house slam out in every direction. Noise and disturbance hit me at the same time, leaving me staggering as if the Song of Thunder went off in my face. Kelly pulls me steady, as secondary explosions rock the foundations of the house. "It's beautiful!" she shouts, as dust and bits of wood fall down around us.

"How did you--"

"Arrived yesterday, with all the equipment I needed. Spent all night and most of today, but it was worth it!" Kelly grabs me and spins me around, as if she's the Ofanite. "Nothing in this world that can survive that, Kai. Nothing at all."

I pull free, and I can't help but laugh along. An appropriate fiery funeral for a house that had been so misused for evil. "And what about next year?" I ask. "If it's holding to tradition, or some need that holds it back that long--"

"I'll meet you here," Kelly says, and puts out her hand. "I'll bring the explosives, you bring the marshmallows. Call it a tradition."

"I thought Windies weren't traditional," I say, but I shake on it.

"So maybe we'll do it differently next year. Maybe next time nothing will show, and we can spend the night seeing how many old buildings we can set up in a blaze. Want to find out?"

"Sure," I say.

And after she drives away, I watch and wait until there's nothing but thin smoke rising from the remains of the house. I guess the best way to celebrate a change is to change everything again.


End file.
